Men overstate their intelligence, women underplay it: research

London, Jan 16 (UNI) You are what you think, and that is exactly why men claim they are cleverer than women.

According to a research , the intellectual difference between men and women is all in the mind-- men overstate how clever they are whereas woman underplay their intelligence.

Researcher Adrian Furnham from the University College of London, analysed the results of 25 studies of sex differences in Intelligence Quotient(IQ).

It showed how women tend to give significantly lower estimates than men of their own intelligence - about five IQ points - while men tend to overestimate their brain power, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Men appear to be more confident, not brighter which ''can have beneficial effects in the interview and even the examination room'', research said.

Surprisingly, both men and women tend to think their grandfathers are brighter than grandmothers, fathers brighter than mothers and sons brighter than daughters.

This difference in perceived IQ matches the estimate of the actual difference between how the sexes score in IQ tests, which is only three to five IQ points, said Prof Furnham.

He, however said there is general agreement that men and women do differ in specialised features of intellectual development.

Men excel in spatial awareness, which underpins navigation and numerical skills. Women do better in ''emotional intelligence'' and language development.

They develop larger vocabularies earlier, use more complex linguistic constructions and read better.